The Lord's Prayer

Reading: Matthew 6:1-13

INTRODUCTION
Millions of Christians through the ages have prayed the Lord's
Prayer. It is probably the most well known prayer of all
time: though lately it is seldom prayed in the churches. This
morning we will study this prayer, paying particular attention
to how Satan has attacked one of its vital truths.

1. OUR FATHER
This is a family or group prayer, a prayer that is prayed by
at least two believers who acknowledge the God of the Bible as
their heavenly Father. We know this because the words 'our'
and 'us' are used throughout. This fact - that
we are praying as a group on behalf of the Almighty's church,
and our own particular responsibilities within it, lifts this
prayer above ordinary prayers in which believers concentrate
on personal needs and requests. I repeat, in this prayer we are
praying as a believing church to our Father. We are not
praying to an earthly father, a priest or pope, but to our
Father which is in heaven. And not merely to 'our Father,'
but too the God of our spiritual ancestors Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.

As many of you know, we believers belong to the Family of the
Most High and are spiritually bound together by a common parentage.

Exodus 3:

13: And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto
the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of
your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to
me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14: And God
said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me
unto you. 15: And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers,the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my
memorial unto all generations.

1 John 3:

1: Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not.
2: Beloved now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not appear
what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

In short, this prayer is addressed to 'our Father,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.'

2. WHICH ART IN HEAVEN
The Father we are addressing is in heaven. He is not on earth.
What or where is heaven? The Bible tells of several heavens:
the atmospheric heavens, in which the birds fly.
The starry heavensin which the stars and
planets orbit and the third heaven, a spiritual
location in which our Heavenly Father dwells. Physically that may be a lot nearer than some imagine.

Jeremiah 4:

25: I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all
the birds of the heavens were fled.

Deuteronomy 1:

10: The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and,
behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Psalm 103:

19: The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens;
and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Isaiah 63:

15: Look down from heaven, and behold from
the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy
zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies
toward me? are they restrained? 16: Doubtless thou art our
father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge
us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is
from everlasting.

2 Corinthians 12:

2: I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years
ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the
body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the
third heaven.

3. HALLOWED BE THY NAME
The word 'hallowed' means 'set apart for
holy use'. Yahweh's Name is sacred. He is a holy God.
He wants His children to be holy and 'set apart for
holy use', to hallow His name in their thoughts, words
and deeds. Yahweh wants His family to be holy like He is holy.
Being in fashion, or being a popular hero are not the best
of aims for believers, especially if it means sacrificing godly
behaviour. We must be people who hallow Yahweh's Name by being
holy people. What we should aim for is: Hallowed be thy
name in my life.

4. THY KINGDOM COME
The world is in turmoil. There is chaos on every side and everything
worthwhile seems to be fading away. No earthly government is able
to stem humanity's slide into disaster. The world is suffering
from a terminal disease called 'sin;' and sin is on the
increase. The only ray of hope on the horizon is the coming Kingdom
of God. Being fully aware of this fact the Saviour tells
us to look forward to the Kingdom and to pray for the Kingdom
of God to come. (See Lesson 10 concerning the Kingdom of
God.)

5. THY WILL BE DONEThy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven
Yahweh's will is that the human race accept salvation and
obey His law; the law He gave through His servant Moses and which
was magnified in the life of His Son Jesus Christ. That is Yahweh's
will. That is what He wants all mankind to do, to love and obey
Him.

Alas! the world at large has rejected Yahweh's Son and Yahweh's
law. Sad to say even the majority of Christendom have rejected
Yahweh's law. Have you noticed how few believers are really
interested in doing the Almighty's will? Comparatively few know
what His will is. The Master however tells us to pray about this
problem in these words:

'Thy will be done.'

REQUESTS SECTION
After those initial, vital facts concerning Yahweh's Name, His
Kingdom and His Will, comes the Requests Section
of this great prayer. Notice how often the word "us"
is used. I repeat, this is a prayer we pray together. It is a
family or church prayer for food (literal and spiritual) for forgiveness,
for power and for protection.

Give us this day our daily bread. The God of Israel
is well able to supply His children with food, even if it means
dropping it from heaven. But in doing so He may put them to the
test to see whether or not they keep His commandments. Exodus
16: 4: Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain
bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather
a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they
will walk in my law, or no.

And forgive us our debts (trespasses, sins) -
as we forgive our debtors! (Note how in Nehemiah 1:6 the
prophet prays on behalf of all Israel. We read: Let thine ear
now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the
prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night,
for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins
of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee:
both I and my father's house have sinned.

And lead us not into temptation 1Corinthians
10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common
to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make
a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

But deliver us from evil

6. FOR
This word 'for' precedes a vital fact in the Lord's Prayer:
a fact that spells out 'why' all the preceding requests
should or can be met. In effect it says, All this is possible
because:

Thine is the Kingdom: Because Thou art the supreme
and ultimate authority in the universe.

And the Power: Because with Thee alone is absolute
power and no one can stand in Thy way. Because we are weak and
powerless to arrive at these objectives without Thy help.

And the glory: Because in the final analysis
any glory that may come as a result is really Thine. Because the
whole universe must recognise - for its own good - that Thy will
is really the best course to follow. Because Thy name needs to
be cleared of slander and blasphemy. Because the glory that is
Thy due must be recognised and openly declared by all mankind.
Only if we pray in this mode will we find our mental bearings
and achieve worthwhile results. All other prayers are doomed to
failure!

Satan, also called Lucifer the fallen
arch-angel, is not happy that Christians voice this final summing
up of the Lord's Prayer:

'For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever Amen.'

That is why Satan has arranged for this whole phrase to be either
[bracketed] or omitted from modern translations
of the Bible. In one swipe the Devil has sought to remove the guarantee
that this vital prayer will be answered. Full well does he know that the Almighty God of Israel alone has the authority the power and the will that it
takes to answer this prayer. No other soul in the universe has
that power.

When those vital words 'thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory' are omitted from the Lord's prayer, it will not
be answered; simply because it is not directed at the only One
in the universe who is capable of answering it.

7. FOR EVER
The Most High is immortal. His Kingdom is everlasting and His
power endless. Not only are these true and eternal facts, but
this prayer ends with our total agreement and acceptance of them.
The word 'amen' means 'so be it' or 'so it is'.

So ends the perfect prayer that will always be answered - if prayed
in its entirety by the church, the family of the living
God. This prayer should be prayed by the church on behalf of the
church, for the benefit of all mankind and the eternal glory
of the Almighty God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen and Amen! So be it and So be it!

In the final analysis a group is judged, not by its numbers,
its knowledge, its wealth or its possessions: but by its effectiveness
in prayer. We must continually ask ourselves this question:
Are our prayers being answered? And if not, why not? We must also
question ourselves concerning: How often do we pray? What do we
pray for? Do we get results? Does the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Israel listen to our prayers? If not, why not?

Matthew 6: 9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.